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I can't stand when people don't know fights. So I went through every video on the MMO-Champ preview and made quick notes of what I feel were the most important things to note on each boss. Source:

I'll be using these to copy-paste into /party each time before a new boss. I remember spending 5 minutes before each new cata fight and I don't want that to happen again. I'm doing it once and that's it!

I hope this helps!

NOTE: This information MAY be dated/changed, please let me know in the comments and I will update it accordingly.

UPDATE: This has been so popular I will try to make one for raid bosses tonight. If it isn't up tonight it won't be up for a few days since I'll be playing. Apologies for all the people getting upset over this, you can play the game however you like! This was merely supposed to be a tool for those of us who are going to be grinding dungeons to 90 and don't want to be re-typing every single explanation. Enjoy guys!

Temple of the Jade Serpent

Wise Mari

Avoid water as much as possible. Come to back of room to kill water ele's first. He'll spin the whole time, avoid his water spout while avoiding water on the ground and DPS'ing.

There are different bosses that can spawn here, choose the appropriate one!

Lots of fucking suns boss

DPS all the suns down, tank get ready to pick up a stream of shadow adds. Once everything is dead, the monk will get possessed, simply tank and spank him down.

Anger & Strife

Doing damage causes a debuff on the boss. At 10 stacks they become immune and do MASSIVE damage. Stay on the same target, do as much damage in between immunities, pop defensive cooldowns during immunities.

Liu Flameheart

Avoid flame waves. Avoid fire on the ground. Only the tank should be in front of the boss.

Sha of Doubt

Phase 1: Spread out, do as much damage as possible before immunity.

Phase 2: EVERYONE stack up and DPS down the adds as fast as possible. If adds DO NOT die they explode for huge damage and it'll probably be a wipe.

Stormstout Brewery

Ook-Ook

Everyone but tank get behind him. Avoid his frontal-cone ground-pound, avoid getting hit by barrels. Both of these do damage and stun you.

Gauntlet

This is a gauntlet, you can pick up hammers that they drop and use them to AOE. The TNT they drop HURTS, try to avoid it. Please keep moving through the whole time, the monsters will never stop spawning.

Hoptallus

Get out of his Furlwind. Avoid his Carrot Breath when he spins slowly in a circle. Tank be ready to pick up lots of adds and DPS need to AOE them down. They still drop TNT and Hammers so pickup hammers for AOE and avoid TNT.

Yan-Zhu the Uncasked NOTE! This fight can be different! If you have the jump debuff, use the 1st description. If the boss has 3 buffs allowing him to cast multiple spells, use the 2nd description

You can jump VERY high this fight. When he casts Bubble Shield, jump up and attack the bubbles above him, then get back on the boss, the bubbles reduce the damage he takes. Also, jump high and avoid the beer waves that come across the room.

Most important thing is to kill his adds, they heal him. SPREAD OUT! Destroy his bubble shield when he casts it. When bubbles appear around the room, click them and fly upward to avoid damage. If you are hit with Blackout Brew keep moving until it falls off.

Avoid his weapons, staff and axe spin so get out, don't stand in front of him to avoid his ground slam. At 66% and 33% health traps go off. Blade trap avoid the ground pattern, crossbow trap just heal the damage.

Siege of Niuzao Temple

Please interrupt trash as best you can, they do some strong damage.

Vizier Jin'bak

The puddle in the middle of the room is the most important thing. It grows over time OR when a sap globule from the outside reaches the middle.

The only way to shrink it is to take turns standing in it, so please hop in every now and then but not too much! He can also detonate the puddle and the bigger it is, the more damage it will do to everyone.

Please keep interrupting trash!

Commander Vo'jak

Talk to one of the NPCs

Waves of mobs will come up the stairs. Healer and Ranged DPS use the tar bombs on the ledge to weaken them as much as possible. If they make it to the top, DPS them down and try to tank them as best as possible.

When the commander finally comes up the stairs, watch out for his whirlwind and use your defensive cooldowns, he has some very strong melee abilities.

General Pa'valak

He will throw his sword at the ranged, and then charge it. Get out of the way of both, big damage. He casts Bulwark and summons adds. Bombs will land near us, right click the bombs and throw them at the adds + him and his Bulwark. Rinse and repeat.

Wing Leader Ner'onok

If you get hit with his Resin, keep jumping otherwise you get sealed in it. When he lifts off, run back along the bridge and stay behind the walls. Don't jump UNLESS you need to keep Resin from hardening. Get to him and just DPS him.

Scarlet Halls

Commander Lindon

HEALER don't grab a shield, everyone else can. Walk towards the archers and use the shields as cover. When we get to the end, all of the enemies rush at once. Let the tank get aggro on them all and begin to DPS down the adds and then the boss.

Houndmaster Braun

DPS the boss in the middle of the room, tank get ready to pick up constantly streaming dogs. DPS can just stay on the boss, tank AOE is enough to kill them.

Armsmaster Harlan

Simply DPS the boss, tank pickup adds when they spawn. When he jumps to the middle, get ready to move, DO NOT get hit by this or you die. If you're able to dispell Enrages, please dispel him as much as possible.

Flameweaver Koegler

Interrupt and spellsteal/dispell him as much as possible. When he casts Book Burner, stand in his beam. If you dont, the books light on fire and pulse fire the rest of the fight.

Also be sure to avoid his Dragon's Breath, as he spins 360 and breathes fire.

Scarlet Monastery

Stay out of purple circles on the ground, tank pickup adds and DPS them down, try and kill spirits as fast as possible, if they become empowered zombies they do A LOT of damage so tank pop cooldowns.

DPS should stay on the boss, not the empowered zombies.

Brother Korloff

Get out of his firestorm kick once he leaps. Big heals during his channeled punches. At 50% tank you MUST kite him around, melee DPS do not stand in the fire.

Clear ALL trash before pulling.

Commander Durand

Same as the old version. When she resurrects him, focus HER down and interrupt her Mass Rez if she casts it otherwise she revives every single mob in here. Once she's dead, kill him, done.

Scholomance

Instructor Chillheart

An ice wall will form and move towards us slowly. It INSTANTLY kills you if you touch it. Stay spread out at all times. After he casts Touch of the Grave, tank, pop a CD. Get out of ice circles on the ground.

When he dies, we need to kill his Phylactery as fast as possible. Avoid the fire and ice books as much as you can, and DPS hard!

Jandice Barov

EVERYONE including the tank, needs to get out of the way of Wondrous Rapidity. It's channeled frontal cone damage, she won't spin, just get behind her.

At 66% and 33% she splits into duplicates. Single target them all down until the real one is found. Rinse and repeat, AVOID HER CHANNEL!

Rattlegore

Make sure you find an orange glowing bone pile and right click it. If you get hit with Bone Spike this armor will fall off, if it does, go right click another bone pile.

Avoid blue fire. His damage increases over the fight so tank, save D cooldowns for after 50%.

Lilian Voss

Three phases, Phase 1: Spread out! When she pulls us in, we start to leave trails of fire. Keep running around until this ends and stay out of fire best you can.

Phase 2: Stay spread out. She will fixate on someone and that person must run away from her.

Phase 3: Everything combined. Think of it as phase 1 but if you get fixated, you need to kite. She still pulls as all in and we need to run away/stay out of fire. Be careful of getting fixated and kite when you need to!

Pull these Bored Students carefully! They do a lot of damage!

Professor Slate is a tank and spank.

Darkmaster Gandling

When he casts Rise! He takes 50% less damage, so spend all your damage on AOE'ing the adds he summons.
He will cast Harsh Lesson randomly, DPS need to kill all the adds and you can come back to the fight.

Healers/Tanks look for mobs to dispel, when you do, this makes killing all the adds MUCH easier. Dispel all the mobs you can, then kill adds and come back.

Shadow-Pan Monastery

Gu Cloudstrike

Phase 1: Don't stand in lightning on the ground.

Phase 2: He becomes immune. We need to kill his dragon. Stay away from the dragons breath and tail and SAFELY stack up near the side of the dragon. Spam heals when the debuff goes out.

Phase 3: DPS Race, do as much damage as possible. There's no way to avoid his AOE damage!

Master Snowdrift

Tank will gather all the adds and we DPS them down, then we fight master snowdrift. Get behind his Fist of Fury, he will not follow you. Get out of his Tornado Kick.

Taran Zhu

Don't let your hatred get to full, if it's getting close, click the meditate skills and don't move until your hatred dies down. Stay out of his shadow bolt AOE circle, either be IN it or OUT of it.

Gripping Hatred spheres pull us in, GET OUT of the purple ASAP and meditate AFTER you're out if you need to. DO NOT meditate while standing in the purple.

I never understood how I was supposed to know every fight. If I hop into the LFD it is going to be a random dungeon so I don't have time to search and watch a video for each fight. Therefore I was too embarrassed to run Cata heroics.

You sir, have just added a ton of gameplay experience to my playtime and saved lots of tanks from facepalming. I give you my sincere thanks.

how i handle that situation is I just make sure the first words I speak after the load screen are "this is my first time in here." usually someone will pick up on that and mention the main things I would need to be aware of during each encounter. if nobody does, you can usually get by with a little common sense and following the instructions of Deadly Boss Mods.

in your case though, I think what you really need to do though is to use LFD but queue up for a specific dungeon rather than a random one. read up on all the fights for this particular dungeon then queue up just for that. you won't get that bonus JP you would for queueing up random, but you will go into the fight prepared. after you've gone through all of them, one at a time, going through them randomly shouldn't be so bad.

agreed. Make sure it is known you are new and it should not be a big deal. When I'm tanking, especially when the dungeons are new, I make sure I ask, but not all will. If you tell them you are new and nobody helps, well that is just a shitty group. They happen. The beauty of LFD is that you can leave the assholes and move on with your day.

Good point. Admitting you're new almost always results in a friendly person in your party offering details. The desire to hide what you haven't memorized helps create the situations of impatient ridicule that you're trying to avoid.

Honestly, most of the beta heroics are stupidly easy, the only ones that really have one-shot mechanics that you have to know are the Armsmaster guy in Scarlet Halls and the first boss of Gate who spams bombs.

This is the problem with making a beta into actual content, there is nothing left to discover. I want to hop in new dungeons and learn new fights, NOT have some beta warrior tell me exactly what to do the first time.

You mean hour 3 of the release. Though I agree it's annoying when people doin't know the fights, as a non beta player, wiping will probably be half of the fun in a way. When people don't know a simple wipe mechanic 3 months into an expansion it is kinda annoying, but when everyone is new you can't really complain that your actually being given a challenge.

I just did an lfr ysterday and not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 tanks didn't know what to do for spine. We finally got 2 intelligent tanks and a BM hunter left his pet on the amalg and a warlock that wouldn't stop dps ended up blowing 2 amalgam prematurely. We never got past 1st plate. I'm sorry but that is absolutely unacceptable. Especially when there are 4-5 people telling in /say to stop dps on amalg. What a waste of 45 minutes. I left, got deserter, and had to wait another 28 minutes for queue. Absolute horseshit..

That late into the game is a bit different. What I was referring to was mostly dungeons within the first couple of weeks of the game. Heck, within the first few days people were calling in Trade to do dungeon runs, but must know the fights.

To be fair, a lot of people have run the dungeons by that point anyway, and they're looking for clean runs. Beta or not, a few days is plenty of time for those sorts of hardcores to run dungeons and know them.

Well, shit. I was hoping I had just run into a bunch of really unsociable people. Three year hiatus and the first thing I've noticed is that not a single person is willing to speak up anymore! No joking, no explanations, not even arguing about loot. The DPS just charges in and hopes the tank and healer catch up in time. There isn't even time for a mana break every now and then. What gives?

It's just that the old 5-mans aren't difficult. The game is so out of balance for any level other than endgame that I was struggling to show my brother (new player) any type of challenge. I started out explaining fights over Skype, but ultimately it was 85 levels of just steamrolling everything and saying "I swear this used to be harder".

I will say, though, that when I started doing Hour of Twilight heroics we had a couple of nice folks patiently, and calmly, explain some of the fights. And we got through, no sweat.

Standard practices are all you really need to wing it in most fights. And with the LFG system working as well as it does, everyone just becomes mindless, emotionless factory workers. You're just grinding away at your job with 4 other faceless strangers. You'll never see each other again. Just get through it. It's like sharing a taxi with 4 strangers. You can try polite small talk, but most of us just want to close our eyes, tune everyone out, and wait till the door opens so we can leave in a hurry.

They were. I remember, very specifically, everyone being very careful with the trash pulls in Stonecore. There were a lot of mistakes to be made that'd leave a couple people dead if they weren't on the ball.

Now though, with balance tuning, a whole new talent system, and core abilities revisited once again, they're just more of the same steamroller grind.

Who cares if a sentry pulls a second group and an inbred ogre starts kicking us around. Who cares if there are two dozen imps and four casters outside of melee range. My wife and I, newly minted tank and healer with entry level Cataclysm quest gear, can weather the storm and keep the party alive. Then it's off to the boss where nobody even mentions the mechanics. Heal through it all. No big deal. Ever.

Disappointing.

But! I expect these MoP 5-mans to present a challenge, at least at first, making the OP's guide very handy, if only for personal reference.

Old 5-mans were difficult - it's just that with the revamp of the old world, low-level itemization was vastly increased. Also, the base power of all classes at low level has been bumped up. Also, you gain XP faster, so you outlevel Scarlet Monastery in a level or two. Also, everybody already knows how to do all the old world instances.

Dude, in vanilla it took at least 30 minutes to find a group for anything. Playing WoW wasn't, "OK, I'mma log on for 15 minutes and chainsaw through a heroic," it was "Okay, I am going to dedicate three hours to playing World of Warcraft."

And I'm not saying that the dungeon finder is bad. It is what it is. I'm just saying that you never have to think about any of the people you are playing with in the future, because there's such a large pool and there is no effective way to "/2 AGOANDANON NINJA'D LOOT" in Orgrimmar. There's no reason to communicate.

This is the ideal path when doing guild run. Discovering new dungeons and raids with friends and/or people you are confortable to play with is a GREAT experience, and shouldnt be spoiled with guides. BUT for blind runs, with stranger, I think its great if you know (roughly) what's to come. People quit so easily nowadays...

Kicking doesn't occur right off the bat as there's about a 15 minute cooldown for kicking anyone. They did this to prevent abuse that was occurring where groups would form and the tank or whatever would be a huge dick and vote kick people for not being the GearScore (when that was still a thing) they wanted for a fast run or any other reason.

I really hate that being new has become a reason to kick someone from a group. I always try to be as helpful as possible when people ask questions, b/c that's the kind of treatment I'd want to receive. It's sad that impatient elitism has become the accepted norm for WoW players, and it breaks my heart when other players act shocked by any kindness I show them. Such a shame that the number of give-me-what-I-want-now-fuck-you players outnumber those of us dedicated to fostering a supportive gaming community. :/

Then don't read it? You are free to avoid spoilers when playing games, watching movies, reading books, or anything else. You specifically clicked on the link and then commented that you didn't like that you didn't have anything left to discover. Yet, somehow, that is the OP's fault?

More of a comment on the general failing of the community in my opinion. If it's considered "mandatory" to have beta knowledge of every boss (as many replies have said), why do we end up bitching about how the content dried up in two weeks?

So you consider it a failing of the WoW community that people want the other people in their groups to have done the same level of research into the basic boss/encounter mechanics?

Let me frame the question a little differently... would you consider it a failing of a (let's say) soccer club who meets up several times a week if they considered it "mandatory" to have knowledge of the rules and mechanics of soccer? Would that still be unreasonable if the members were expected to stay abreast of any changes to rules/mechanics to the game (as it pertains to their "league")?

People will bitch no matter what... we've all seen the forums. Coming to an activity prepared is considered good etiquette. Anyone is more than welcome to come unprepared, but that (at least to me) would be a bigger "failing" as far as the community is concerned.

In SWTOR, I played a class in pvp(Gunslinger) and I would yell at the other gunslingers who weren't as good as me, for not knowing any better. Then my GM yelled at me, and now I realize I was wrong. ):

I know it doesn't belong here, but this is a major reason I'm enjoying Guild Wars 2 so much. The trial and error, the necessity of learning boss patterns in order to time your dodges and defensive mechanics in order to survive. Hell not even just bosses, all the mobs behave differently and you have to figure out their various attack patterns, often multiple mobs at once, and react accordingly or die. Combat just feels so active and fresh. Learning by doing instead of having it laid out for you is fantastic, highly recommend picking it up (no monthly fee) even of you stick with WoW as your mmo.

This guy put a lot of effort into this. And this is going to save a lot of people a lot of time that they don't want to waste. If you and your friends want to wipe for half an hour on something trivial go ahead, but don't make it out like he's ruining the game for everyone.

People have different priorities in a video game. Some are a little more tight in their schedules and want to make the most out of their playtime. Some just have different playstyles all together. He might see it as a waste of time that could be spent leveling professions or playing the auction house, while another sees it as a time to bond with guildmates and have wacky adventures. Different strokes for different folks.

I'm glad blizzard is trying to accomodate as many playstyles as possible so there's as little clashing as possible.

I like this idea. As a person who ends up healing a lot, it would be fun to queue into a group that wants to go completely crazy and do fun stuff. I often will queue just for the bag and find "undergeared" tanks. It's much more fun for me because it's an actual challenge rather than spamming wrath/lightning bolt because I'm bored.

I pay high-school students to play my games for me so I don't waste time on them. If Blizzard would implement a dungeon completion mode like Nintendo has in Wii games, that would be even better. Then I could sit back and watch the client finish the run for me while I eat dinner. It makes sense.

To each his own. Personally I could care less either wqy, but I agree that OPs opening statement that he hates people who don't know fights is a little presumptuous. Especially regarding content that hasn't even been released yet.

I'm not saying I don't appreciate his time and effort. I appreciate it and I'm sure everyone does. It's just that if you expected people to know the fights and mechanics of every boss right on launch, you're going to be in for a shitty time. I played beta, I've done most of the dungeons. And even then I don't remember the mechanics of every boss. People learn strats at different speeds and in different ways. Getting annoyed at people who don't know the fights won't solve anything. That's the thing about players, and people in general, today. They want results NOW.

It was removed for cata halfway through so I don't believe they will be bringing it back. There is a tweet here confirming that Jade Temple is accessible "without stepping foot in pandaria" but it doesn't confirm for any of the others. Original Tweet

I like discovering these kinda things myself though, so first time around I'm going to experience it for myself but in the future if my party members are having a tough time I'll copy+paste these over. Thanks!

Well, thats a good point. But, some of the charm IMO when a new expansion comes, is exploring the new content. You shouldn't get angry if one of the guys in your group doesn't know the boss mechanics. Not everyone has the same goals in this game. Believe it or not, some people actually play it for the fun of it. So to sum it up, don't yell at the noobie just because he hasn't watched videos of all the new boss fights on youtube.

Sidenote: Personally, me and my friends will do dungeons together, winging it and having fun with the game. Not bothering those who rather rush to 90.

While winging it can be an artform that some of us have perfected, the same can't be said for all. And when it comes time to just lay out some brief instructions, this is fantastic.

I don't mind winging it, or getting 1 or 2 lines of instruction. But I've also grouped with people who will drone on forever about a boss's abilities, what they do, when they happen, what to do when they happen, and 19 ready checks. I hate that.

For those of you bitching and complaining that you want to "figure it out"...Blizzard basically tell you all about the fights without specifically saying "do this do that" in the Dungeon Journal. Which is built into the fucking UI.

It's their intent that you go into these fights knowing what happens. If you're doing anything less, you're a bad fucking player. Stop making excuses. Downvote me all you want, you can't hide from the truth.

OP, you're doing God's work.

Oh, and when this got posted over at MMO Champion the responses were much more enthusiastic (and mature). Kind of shows what type of player you find there versus the responses here.

It's definitely not their intent to make you read up before any fight. The dungeon journal is there to help you figure out things if you don't understand them or would like to look it up before hand. Did you know some people play differently than others? Maybe you and I might like knowing the fights before hand, but some people like to figure things out as it happens. That may be how they get enjoyment out of the game. Telling people how they are supposed to play a game they pay for is not only rude but downright idiotic. The reason you encountered more people supporting your side on MMO Champion is because that is a completely different website with completely different users.

Unfortunately some of the MMO Champ guides were for normal and some were for heroics. For example, in Scholomance, Instructor Chillhart's ice wall is INSTANT death on heroic. The mechanic probably still exists in normal but maybe it's not instant death.

The point is the mechanics are explained and whether they differ from regular to heroic can, in most cases, be dealt with using common sense.

If there is something TRULY game changing between the two difficulties I will update it accordingly.

Just in case anyone was curious (like I was), the icewall is actually an insta-death mechanic across the board. As noted from another comment, reg Scholo is only low-level (35ish?), but I took an 85 through after 5.0.4 to check it out. Decided to see how much damage the wall did -- you know, for science -- and was corpsed immediately.

Reading it isn't the same as seeing it. Thanks for this, I only did the first instance once in Beta to not spoil much, I just want to have a general idea of what to expect when the time comes and this will help with that.

I've always hated spoiling content during any expansion BETA. Therefore, any person to give me shit for not knowing a boss fight days after the expansion is released can and will be told to fuck off. It's an expansion people enjoy reliving a new/different experience with a game that's been around for as long as this one has; it's people with this mindset that have ruined the MMO community.

Thank you very much for your work. I like to learn single player content on my own. For group content I like to be prepared and I can see the value of this guide if I cause problems in a PUG. Bookmarked.

Cheers for this friend, I steadfast refused to learn anything about MoP as I wanted it to be a surprise - but have all too late realised how this could impact LFG. Will use this as a reference whilst in dungeons. :)

Mwahaha, I am not the only one after all that does these! I am pretty much known for my one-paragraph-at-most-per-boss copy&paste dungeon guides in my guild...
Of course they are a bit shorter (trying to cover the average pug attention span) and they are in German, but I still just wanted to say I love you a little for following the same thought-patterns. waves

Because, as someone who started tanking again in Mists (haven't done so since BC) it's nice to have a heads up on what I'll be facing and be able to explain it to my group. I'd prefer not to have a two hour long wipe fest when avoidable.

Probably because you can save posts to your reddit account. RES also lets you save comments, so people find comments like this redundant or not useful — they don't add anything to the conversation, and in that case reddiquette says it's okay or even good to downvote.